Rain and Rainbows

Into everyone's life a little rain must fall. In recent years it seems that it is little rain, indeed. We are in the grip of a fairly substantial drought and have been for a while. When no rain falls we all complain and feel the effects of the drought. When we get rain we complain because we can't do the things we want to do. It really is interesting to watch people's response to this rain or lack of rain thing. I'm a preacher who believes that the weather patterns are still controlled by God and that the actions of his people often times precipitates a climatic response from God. If you would read in II Chronicles 7:14 the great revival passage and then back up several verses into chapter six you would find that Solomon prayed to God and said to him, "If your people do all of these bad things (Helms translation) and you send drought and pestilence and famine and etc..... and your people lift up their hands toward this place and repent and call on your name, then hear from heaven and heal your people." [This is a very condensed version of the prayer. If you would like to read it you can find it in its entirety in II Chronicles 6: 12 - 7:22] It is in the 14th verse of chapter 7 that God gives the great revival promise. If his people will repent and call on him, he'll forgive and heal the land. Have you ever thought that maybe the reason we have the unusual weather patterns is because of the unusual sinfulness of our churches. Yes! Our churches! Read I Peter 4:17 and you'll see that judgment begins with the house of God. Christians are the ones held to the standard of Christian living - NOT LOST PEOPLE! So, have you ever wondered if the reason why we have such unusual weather patterns is because we have such unusually sinfulness in God's house? I have.

I'm reminded of another story from the Old Testament and it concerns Noah and the rainbow. Do you remember why God sent the flood? It is becasue mankind had been exceedingly wicked and God was sorry that he made us [Read Genesis 6:5-8 and following for the whole story]. God struck down sinfulness and only Noah and his family survived. Then comes the rainbow. The rainbow is a sign of the promise made by God to Noah to never destroy the earth by flood again. So...the rainbow is a sign of a good thing, the promise, and a reminder of a bad thing, judgment. Maybe we need to pray for rain and rainbows to help us navigate life with a greater sense of purpose and direction.....

When God Says No

Recently, I sought the Lord about a particular item I wanted. My prayer went something like this: Lord, I would like to have [this thing] and I have the means to go get it, but I don't know if you want it for me or not. So, would you please give me [this thing] or let me know you don't want me to have it right now. Amen. So...after seeking the counsel of the Lord I promptly went about the necessary avenues through which to secure this thing that I wanted. Everywhere I went I found a dead end. No less than six people, unsolicited mind you and at different times, shared with me why they didn't think I needed this particular thing. Many other things happened to indicate that this was not something I needed to pursue.

So what did I do? Well, the better question would be what am I going to do? I know that God doesn't want me to do this thing that I want to do. I have the means to do it, though. I have to believe that God has my best interest in mind and that he has plans to bless and give me a future and all of that, but I still want the thing. So I find myself in a struggle. Herein is the point to today's story. God's desire for me is better for me than my desire for me. I still want the thing. The choice is to obey God or disobey God. Mind you, there is no verse anywhere in the Bible that says I can't or shouldn't have the thing, but there are countless verses that deal with obedience and the resulting blessing and disobedience and the resulting discipline.

I have a choice in my salvation to walk with the Lord or to walk away from the Lord....to listen to the Lord or not listen to the Lord....to wait and deny myself or go ahead and satisfy my desire....to please the Lord or disappoint the Lord...etc... Such is the life of a saved person. To learn to walk by faith and not by sight and trust the Lord for my delight. How do you handle a no answer from God?

God and Cargo Trailers

Have you ever heard anyone say, "The devil is in the details."? I know I have. Anytime a Baptist church undertakes anything of significance (for some that is the color of carpet and others that is whether or not to relocate the whole church to a more centralized location) the discussion about the "details" always brings the disagreement and the hearty (but compassionate) discussion. In the last 12 years I've heard heated debate in Baptist churches about everything from water fountains and ice machines to firing the preacher and dissolving the church. What I've noticed is that the devil isn't so much in the details as he is in the people who are discussing the details. Let me tell you what I mean....

A few months ago a group of us from the church went to a disaster relief workers training and we got our certification to represent the Southern Baptist Convention and our church in the wake of a natural disaster. We saw one particular area of ministry that excited everyone who went. The particular unit we liked would require us to buy a jumping house, snowball machine, popcorn machine and some other things like that. Well....God was in the details. If you know anything about a Baptist church, you know that most endeavors require major discussion and votes and all of that in order to get anything rolling let alone accomplished. Well....before we left the training God had already given us a jumping house. We already had some of the other things I mentioned. Someone has pledged a snowball machine and popcorn popper. All we needed was the trailer to house all of the equipment (that which we already possessed and that which is coming). Well....God was in the details. A gentleman in the church purchased a trailer from another member of the church who allowed us to have it at cost. Now, we have the trailer, the jumping house, the other things, a popcorn popper and snowball machine and all of that has been given to the church without so much as announcement let alone a business meeting. Well....God is in the details.

Now let me tell you something. Some people would gripe and complain about that. Some people would say that a group in the church is trying to "take over" and "run" things. Some people would say "you can't do that without a business meeting." I can only imagine what SOME people would say about all that God has done. Well...God is in the details. What I would like to say to some people (if I were to get an opportunity to say anything to those people) would be this: God is in the details. If you'll just learn to pray and wait on Jesus, you might find out that God wants to supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory. God is a good God and worthy of our devotion! You know why? Well....He's in the details!

Snakes and Snails and Puppydog Tails

I suffer from extreme allergies to animals. I've noticed through the years that my reactions are more severe with certain animals than others. There was even a few times when a person who had been around an animal came into the same room with me that my allergy was triggered and even though I had not even been around the animal, I reacted with swollen eyes and shortness of breath. Other times my reactions weren't so strong - a watery eye, runny nose, itchy hands, etc....

So why am I telling you about my allergies? Well....I'm gettin' a dog! Not just any dog, though. I'm getting a purebred, registred poodle. That's right! A POODLE! Not one of those little annoying kinds of poodles, but a standard poodle (that's the big one)! I learned that poodles have hair and their chemistry is different than other dogs. I even tested the theory. I went and hung out with a couple of standard poodles. I didn't have any breathing or itching issues and so I'm getting a poodle.

I went to pick him out the other day and I chose a solid black poodle. His name is Deacon Winstonias Watertrodder. That's a cool name, don't you think? Anyway, I'll be picking up ole Deacon at the end of the week (to be sure, there will be some pics of ole Deacon and the family on the blog). I'm excited about the dog for a lot of reasons. I read on a website that dogs actually help reduce stress. I'm not sure how that works since they poop everywhere and chew up everything, but we'll see. It is true what they say, little boys are made of snakes and snails and puppydog tails....